The ongoing saga of expenses continues to divert MPs’ attention away from our first duty, which is to serve our constituents. I have never forgotten this, in the month that sees my 600th advice surgery in High Peak.

People need our help: those MPs who have done most to bring our role into disrepute will not be forgiven easily. This month the parents of children with special needs and those complaining about the time taken to correct problems they have had with their Housing Benefit have attended my surgeries. So have people in need of affordable housing.

On the topic of housing, there are now nearly 500 homes, largely in the Buxton area, that have planning permission but are not being built. This is a scandal, and it is not just caused by the recession. Most are not being built because of deliberate applications for town greens designed to thwart a planning development.

High Peak Borough Council is quite right to seek a way of getting these homes built because people need them. The meeting I organised recently between the Council’s leaders and the minister responsible for Town Green policy was essential and timely.

The Council’s subsequent proposals to amend the process are sensible. They will get a sympathetic hearing from the government. My commitment to resolving this problem has been solid and within months I expect the guidelines to change.

On Housing Benefit, I am pleased that the Rent Service has now scrapped plans to lump Glossop with Tameside, Oldham and Rochdale for rent comparison purposes. It reduced Housing Benefit significantly for many vulnerable people locally.

They have now agreed a link with Tameside alone. This may not be perfect but it is much better.

This outcome has been reached because I got ministers to force the Rent Service to review its proposals – even changing the law along the way.

Churches, scout and guide groups and amateur sports clubs who get surface water drainage services from United Utilities will be relieved to hear that the huge increase proposed for their bills has been withdrawn. A meeting I had with Ofwat, the water industry regulator, has helped to force the company to rethink their proposals.

An MP who works with the local council and others, including on a cross-party basis, for causes which are clearly in the best interests of families and communities is an MP who is doing his job.

Finally, Glossop has a new jewel in its crown. The newly refurbished Labour Club on Chapel Street has long been a vibrant centre for community groups. It looks and feels so much nicer than it did and I wish the club well for the future.